A marine biologist friend of mine once told me about an incident at a tidal pool in Mexico where he somehow pissed off a small octopus, and it came out of the water after him, up the beach, reaallllly angry. And, I guess keeping them in tanks in the lab is difficult, too.

I knew octopuses could do this, still cool to see. Also, thank you for the Youtube link, Trebuchet.

I am curious though: how long can it actually survive outside the water? Even if it manages to stay moist enough, I suppose it can’t readily breathe air. So isn’t the octopus taking a huge risk crawling from pool to pool? If it gets stuck somewhere in between, can it just wait for the tide to be set free or will it expire before that?

@14: Yes, they are squishy, have strong grips and prehensile limbs, and are excellent at solving spatial and mechanical puzzles. Google “octopus escape” for lots of videos. Still not as cute as Nautilidae, though. :-)